Is a modified version of some
parable preached to the Cabindas at the time the Capuchins had such
influence among them, before they were driven out of the lower Congo
regions more than a hundred years ago, for political reasons by the
Portuguese.
In the bush - where the people have been little, or not at all, in
contact with European ideas - in some ways the investigation is
easier; yet another set of difficulties confronts you. The
difficulty that seems to occur most easily to people is the
difficulty of the language. The West African languages are not
difficult to pick up; nevertheless, there are an awful quantity of
them and they are at the best most imperfect mediums of
communication. No one who has been on the Coast can fail to
recognise how inferior the native language is to the native's mind
behind it - and the prolixity and repetition he has therefore to
employ to make his thoughts understood.
The great comfort is the wide diffusion of that peculiar language,
"trade English"; it is not only used as a means of
intercommunication between whites and blacks, but between natives
using two distinct languages. On the south-west Coast you find
individuals in villages far from the sea, or a trading station, who
know it, and this is because they have picked it up and employ it in
their dealings with the Coast tribes and travelling traders. It is
by no means an easy language to pick up - it is not a farrago of bad
words and broken phrases, but is a definite structure, has a great
peculiarity in its verb forms, and employs no genders. There is no
grammar of it out yet; and one of the best ways of learning it is to
listen to a seasoned second mate regulating the unloading or
loading, of cargo, over the hatch of the hold. No, my Coast
friends, I have NOT forgotten - but though you did not mean it
helpfully, this was one of the best hints you ever gave me.
Another good way is the careful study of examples which display the
highest style and the most correct diction; so I append the letter
given by Mr. Hutchinson as being about the best bit of trade English
I know.
"To Daddy nah Tampin Office, -
Ha Daddy, do, yah, nah beg you tell dem people for me; make dem
Sally-own pussin know. Do yah. Berrah well.
Ah lib nah Pademba Road - one bwoy lib dah oberside lakah dem two
Docter lib overside you Tampin office. Berrah well.
Dah bwoy head big too much - he say nah Militie Ban - he got one long
long ting so so brass, someting lib dah go flip flap, dem call am
key. Berrah well. Had! Dah bwoy kin blow! - she ah! - na marin,
oh! - nah sun time, oh! nah evenin, oh! - nah middle night, oh! - all
same - no make pussin sleep. Not ebry bit dat, more lib da! One
Boney bwoy lib oberside nah he like blow bugle. When dem two woh-
woh bwoy blow dem ting de nize too much too much.
When white man blow dat ting and pussin sleep he kin tap wah make
dem bwoy carn do so? Dem bwoy kin blow ebry day eben Sunday dem kin
blow. When ah yerry dem blow Sunday ah wish dah bugle kin go down
na dem troat or dem kin blow them head-bone inside.
Do nah beg you yah tell all dem people 'bout dah ting wah dem two
bwoy dah blow. Till am Amtrang Boboh hab febah bad. Till am titty
carn sleep nah night. Dah nize go kill me two pickin, oh!
Plabba done. Good by Daddy.
Crashey Jane."
Now for the elementary student we will consider this letter. The
complaint in Crashey Jane's letter is about two boys who are
torturing her morning, noon, and night, Sunday and weekday, by
blowing some "long long brass ting" as well as a bugle, and the way
she dwells on their staying power must bring a sympathetic pang for
that black sister into the heart of many a householder in London who
lives next to a ladies' school, or a family of musical tastes. "One
touch of nature," etc. "Daddy" is not a term of low familiarity but
one of esteem and respect, and the "Tampin Office" is a respectful
appellation for the Office of the "New Era" in which this letter was
once published. "Bwoy head big too much," means that the young man
is swelled with conceit because he is connected with "Militie ban."
"Woh woh" you will find, among all the natives in the Bights, to
mean extremely bad. I think it is native, having some connection
with the root Wo - meaning power, etc.; but Mr. Hutchinson may be
right, and it may mean "a capacity to bring double woe."
"Amtrang Boboh" is not the name of some uncivilised savage, as the
uninitiated may think; far from it. It is Bob Armstrong - upside
down, and slightly altered, and refers to the Hon. Robert Armstrong,
stipendiary magistrate of Sierra Leone, etc.
"Berrah well" is a phrase used whenever the native thinks he has
succeeded in putting his statement well. He sort of turns round and
looks at it, says "Berrah well," in admiration of his own art, and
then proceeds.
"Pickin" are children.
"Boney bwoy" is not a local living skeleton, but a native from Bonny
River.
"Sally own" is Sierra Leone.
"Blow them head-bone inside" means, blow the top off their heads.
I have a collection of trade English letters and documents, for it
is a language that I regard as exceedingly charming, and it really
requires study, as you will see by reading Crashey Jane's epistle
without the aid of a dictionary.
